Polymerization is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form linear chains or a three-dimensional network of polymer chains. Conventional processes for polymerization include radical polymerization, cationic polymerization, anionic polymerization, photo-irradiation polymerization and coordination catalytic polymerization
In general, photo-irradiation polymerization process utilizes UV light emitted by various sources such as a filament-based lamp, vapor/gas-based lamp and the like. However, the filament-based or vapor/gas-based lamp used as a source of UV light emits defused or multi-directional UV light that exhibits a high rate of intensity decay with distance. Therefore, these lamps are incapable of inducing effective reactions which further lead to consumption of high amount of electrical power. Additionally, these lamps are bulky and have a short life period (8000-15000 hours).
Further, the use of such light sources may cause short and long term health hazards by way of scattered UV radiations in the immediate environment. Furthermore, reaction vessels made of quartz make the chemical process and its apparatus expensive.
Thus, there is a need for a novel and economic process for polymerization of hydrocarbons. Further, there is also a need for an apparatus which will utilize low-intensity solid state lights for polymerization of hydrocarbons.